A Ukrainian widow questioned the Russian soldier who murdered her husband in cold blood in the early days of the war, probing him on the invasion and if he felt any remorse.
It’s the first war crimes trial since the conflict began. The woman persisted in grilling the Russian tank commander about the conflict and his role in it.
“Tell me, please, why did you- Russians- come here? To protect us? Protect us from whom? Did you protect me from my husband, whom you killed?, she further inquired.
The young soldier stayed silent after that.
Shishimarin had pleaded guilty the day before in the killing of Kateryna’s husband, Oleksandr Shelipov, a 62-year-old tractor operator.
Shelipov died four days after the war broke out in the village of Chupakhivka in northeast Ukraine.
His widow told the court she heard shots fired from their yard and called out to her husband, who was unarmed and wearing civilian clothes.
Shishimarin, who appeared down, said he initially refused his immediate commanding officer’s order to shoot the unarmed civilian, but had no alternative but to oblige after the order was repeated strongly by another officer.
The officer insisted, Shishimarin told the court, that the Ukrainian man, who was on his telephone, could pinpoint their location to Ukrainian soldiers.Shishimarin’s court-appointed lawyer, Victor Ovsyanikov, said the judges overseeing the case began deliberations on Friday and a decision is due Monday.
On Friday, Oysanikov urged the court to acquit his client, claiming that he was unprepared for the initial invasion’s brutal military conflict and mass casualties.
General Prosecutor Iryna Venediktova of Ukraine earlier stated that her office was drafting war crimes investigations against 41 Russian soldiers for attacking civilian infrastructure, killing people, rape, and theft.
A team of prosecutors from the International Criminal Court is investigating claims of war crimes in the country.
